New U.S.-Israel 10-Year Military Aid Deal ‘Very Close’

Ilia Yefimovich/GettyBREITBART JERUSALEM21 Jun 2016

The Jerusalem Post reports: WASHINGTON – A new decade-long US defense package to Israel worth billions is “very close” to completion, a senior Israeli official in Washington told the Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Speaking following high-level defense meetings between the two governments, the official said Israel hopes to wrap up negotiations as quickly as possible – and brushed off reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides are waiting until after the US presidential elections to close the deal.

Nor are Israeli officials conflating talks over a new Memorandum of Understanding – which they hope will amount to $5 billion a year in defense aid – with their concerns that the Obama administration may support international initiatives on Middle East peace at the UN Security Council this fall, the official added.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is in Washington for talks with his US counterparts after taking the reins from Moshe Ya’alon last month.